


the snowstorm taxi

by peteyparkour



Category: Marvel, Marvel (Comics), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)
Genre: Christmas AU, Christmas one shot, College AU, One Shot, but i wanted to make it into fanfic, college!miles morales, into the spiderverse, just christmas fluff, kind of, not really - Freeform, snowstorm AU, was an assignment for my english class
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-01
Updated: 2019-12-01
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:54:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,551
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21636172
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peteyparkour/pseuds/peteyparkour
Summary: miles's mother sends him out on christmas eve to a town he is extremely unfamiliar with to get the rest of the groceries they need for dinner.what no one thought to do first was check the weather. and miles sure wishes they did.
Kudos: 7





	the snowstorm taxi

**Author's Note:**

> [ just a little note ! this is kind of a college au of sorts, miles is in his twenties in this story. also, i originally wrote this with a female original character for my english class and i believe i fixed all of the pronoun errors, but there might be a few mistakes since i changed the main character from my female character to miles. just a little heads up, sorry if there are any ! ]

The snow crunched under Miles's feet as he looked left and right down the unfamiliar street. Thoughts floated nervously through his mind as his feet quietly broke the clumps of snow and ice lining the roads, each one getting a bit more anxious than the last.

 _Oh God,_ he finally admitted to himself. _I'm so lost._

With a shaky hand, he placed his groceries on the ground next to his feet, pulled off his glove, and took his phone out of his coat pocket to open the phone app. Miles's cold fingers hovered over the screen for a moment as he debated whether or not the situation truly was serious enough to call for help, but as his head tilted up once more at the foreign scenery and the time ticked to 5:17 PM, he knew he had to make the call. His fingertips gently pressed the name on his phone, and within milliseconds his stomach dropped as a soft ringing began to sound. With a deep breath, Miles held the phone up to his ear, the glass screen slipping underneath the warm safety of his hat and chilling the side of his head.

"Oh, Miles! Are you near?" His mother's thick Latin accent seemed to sound even louder than usual, and Miles couldn't tell if it was because of the myriad of voices coming from the background or if it was because of how silent the landscape around Miles was.

"Not quite," Miles answered hesitantly. "I went to go and get the groceries at the address you gave me, but the taxi driver I had didn't wait for me, and I have no clue where I am. I tried to call an Uber–"

"Miles Gonzalo Morales, you know how I feel about you taking an Uber. You have no idea who those people are!"

Miles wanted to mention that there was no way to know a taxi driver either, but he bit his tongue as he continued. "I know, Mom, but I had no other option. No one couldn't pick me up out here, anyway. But now I'm stuck in whatever town the store that you sent me is in, and I have no clue how to get home. Can you help?"

"Sur–," Miles's mother began, but she was cut off. Miles heard a hand cover the speaker on the other end, and soon afterward his mother's voice yelling in Spanish for Miles's uncle to take the food out of the oven and to gather the children up to help with cooking. "Sorry, honey," his mother returned after a few moments. "I'm on my way now. It'll only be about twenty minutes until I'm there. Hold tight, okay?"

"Okay, thank you so much. You're a lifesaver," Miles said through a shiver, and he hoped that his gratitude translated over the phone.

"Of course. I'll see you soon, bye!"

Miles opened his mouth to return the statement, but his phone gave a final beep as he took a breath to. Instantly, he was left with only vestiges of his mother's voice as he looked up at the road in front of him. Snow had begun to fall, and Miles could see the sun beginning to set behind the treeline. The temperature was already dropping, so Miles quickly pulled his gloves back on before picking up the grocery bags and continuing down the sidewalk.

After a few minutes, Miles came across a booth for what looked like a bus stop. Grateful for the small amount of refuge from the snowfall and for the break for his freezing legs, he took a seat inside the covered bench seats. The groceries thumped down next to Miles as he fell onto the icy seat and let out a breath, thankful for being able to get off his feet. He pulled out his phone to send a short text to his mother.

 _"I'm at the bus stop at the intersection of Hundire and Geopole. See you soon!"_ The message read, and after the small sound of the message going through, Miles set his phone in his lap. A few minutes of silence passed, and Miles looked out at the darkening street in front of him. The snow falling seemed to only fall faster and heavier, and Miles could tell there was already at least an inch of snow that has coated the road. Out of curiosity, Miles lifted his phone out of his lap and opened the weather app. Expecting a soft blue for a small amount of snowfall, Miles's heart dropped at the sight of neon purple. Miles's eyes snapped to the key for the colors, and he sharply took in a breath of air at the number. _Twenty to twenty four inches._

Miles cursed under his breath at the large number, and he looked back to the map to find that his hometown was getting hit with the snow about a half an hour sooner than where he was. His thoughts had finally traveled to his family, more so to his mother, who was driving out to get him. But Miles knew his mother could get nervous driving through these towns in the rain, and that driving in this type of weather would be terrifying, if not dangerous, for her. Right as the thought went through Miles's mind, his phone buzzed with an incoming phone call.

"Hi, Mom," Miles greeted, but he was barely able to get the words out before his mother's fast words began pouring through the phone.

"I am so sorry, Miles, but I don't think I can get you. This weather is terrible, I can't even get out of the driveway. I asked your father, too, but he got his car stuck trying to pull out of the garage. Can you call a taxi?" Miles's mother's voice dripped with guilt as she explained quickly what had happened.

Miles paused for a moment before responding, choosing his words carefully. "I'll call now and see if I can get one. I'll keep you updated, okay?"

"Okay, honey. I'm so sorry," his mother apologized again.

"It's okay, Mom, don't worry," Miles assured, but as he shivered under the canopied bench, he wasn't completely sure of the veracity in his words. "I'll give you a call once I figure it out, okay?"

"Okay, love. I'm sorry I can't help more."

"It's okay, Mom. I'll talk to you in a bit," Miles told his mother, and after they shared goodbyes, Miles hung up the call.

For a few minutes after speaking with his mom, he called various taxi companies in the area, all of which told him that their taxis weren't running until the end of the storm. He opened up the Uber app again, just in case, and even downloaded Lyft to see if they had any drivers, but neither service had any available. Miles sighed as he leaned back onto the cold bench, his chin tilting high and his eyes shutting. With heavy hands, he began to raise the phone to his face to call his mother back with the news that he would be staying in the unfamiliar town for the night, but right before he pressed on his mother's contact, a dark blue car pulled around the corner.

Instantly, Miles jumped up from his seat and waved the car down, but it appeared that the car was on its way to where Miles was sitting either way. After a few seconds, the car came to a stop in front of Miles, and the passenger seat window rolled down.

"Are you waiting for the Polar Express, or are you just stuck out here without a ride?"

The man asking the question looked to be in his sixties or seventies, and he gave a warm smile to Miles as he asked the question. What was left of the hair on his head was grayed to the roots, and a large white beard stemmed from his chin. The man reminded Miles slightly of the idea of Santa Claus that he believed when he was younger; but Miles was twenty-two now, and he wasn't keen on the idea of trusting a stranger.

"If the Polar Express is a taxi that won't be here until the storm stops, then I suppose I'm waiting for that," Miles retorted, a small smile resting on his face hesitantly. The man let out a deep laugh and Miles heard the doors of his car click.

"Well, then your train is early. I can give you a ride, if you'd like."

"I think I'm set, but thank you," Miles responded quickly, knowing that if his mother didn't like the idea of an Uber that she would faint at the thought of her son hitchhiking.

"Son, this storm is just going to get worse. You could seriously get hurt if you don't make it home tonight. I promise I mean no mal intentions. I just want to help," the man insisted, but Miles was still unsure.

"May I ask what your name is?" Miles questioned, and he felt himself become a bit less opposed to the idea of hitchhiking home. The man was right; it was only getting colder outside, and the snow wasn't letting up anytime soon.

"Paul Symond. And yours?" The man answered the question without hesitation, and Miles noticed the amount of snow that was entering his car through the open window, but he didn't seem to mind.

"Miles Morales," Miles responded after a moment, and the man's smile grew.

"Well, now that we know each other, will you come in? I checked the weather for tonight and it looks pretty bad. I'd hate for you to miss Christmas Eve dinner," the man –Paul, as he said earlier– explained, and Miles knew that he should not trust a stranger as easily as he was, but his toes and fingertips were starting to lose feeling and he knew that he wouldn't be able to stay outside for much longer. So, with hesitation, he walked the rest of the way to the car.

"Sure. Thank you," Miles said, offering a small smile to Paul. He opened the passenger door and sat down quickly, rolling the window up. "I'm going to Treelist."

"What are you doing out in Yobune if you live is Treelist?" Paul asked, a bit amused at the strange choice of location.

"My mom insisted that I shop at Hibani's to get the rest of the groceries that she needed for dinner tonight, but she made me take a taxi out instead of taking one of our cars. But then my taxi left, and I couldn't call an Uber or another taxi because they had all shut down for the storm. Then I called my parents, and they tried to come get me, but they couldn't even get out of the driveway. So this might be an interesting drive home." Miles summarized what had happened in the day shortly, and Paul let out another deep laugh.

"You've had quite the eventful Christmas Eve from what I've heard," he chuckled, and Miles let out a small laugh.

"You could say that."

The two sat in a peaceful silence for a few moments, and after some time Paul reached out and turned on the radio. Softly, Christmas songs began to pour out of the speakers, and Miles found himself staring out of the window at the falling snow. While watching the scenery around him, Miles pulled out his phone and sent a message to his mother explaining that he had found a ride and would be home within the hour, and then put his phone down to return his eyes to the white wonderland outside the window. After a couple songs, Miles turned his attention back to inside the car. Simply out of curiosity, he turned around to look at what was in the backseat. He found himself looking at what seemed to be a toolbox, and a wrench and hammer lying outside of the box as well. From the tools Miles's eyes passed over in the trunk, the man ostensibly was a mechanic of some kind, but one item stuck out considerably: a bright yellow umbrella, which rested on top of the tools. He felt a smile grow onto his face at the random items, and he turned his attention back to Paul.

"May I ask you a question?"

"Sure," Paul answered, a bit surprised at the sudden interest in speaking.

"Why were you out on the roads tonight? The weather is making for some pretty dangerous driving," Miles asked quietly, and Paul gave Miles a genuine smile before answering.

"Everyone gets stuck out in a snowstorm on Christmas Eve at least once in their life. I come out with the hopes that I can help at least a couple of those people."

Miles was surprised by the answer, but after a moment gave a sincere smile. "Well, thank you for coming out tonight. I really appreciate you driving me."

"No problem. Just think of it as your Christmas miracle for this year," Paul answered, giving Miles a wink that further reminded him of the fable of Santa Claus.

The two rode the rest of the way to Miles's home in silence, only speaking up for directions on how to get to where he needed to go. After about a half an hour, the two pulled up to his house. Paul parked the car at the bottom of Miles's driveway, knowing that the conditions weren't nearly good enough to try to make it up the steep hill that the house was perched on. He turned off the ignition and opened his door as Miles did, and Miles watched Paul follow him to the bottom of the hill.

"Thank you, Paul. You've definitely saved my Christmas," Miles said graciously, the grocery bags in his hands feeling much lighter since his hands have warmed up.

"Of course, it's what I do. Do you mind if I introduce myself, just so your family knows that the person who drove you home wasn't crazy?" Miles laughed at the statement, but nodded his head anyway.

"Sure," he responded, still laughing. The two trudged through the snow and after a couple minutes made it to the front door. Paul knocked for Miles, as his hands were occupied from the groceries, and within seconds the door flew open and Miles was crushed in a hug from his mother.

"Oh, I am so sorry, sweetheart. I wish I could've come to get you. I was so worried," his mother rushed out, but Miles insisted it was okay. When his mother tried to apologize again, Miles cut her off and introduced his newfound friend.

"Truly, Mom, it's okay. Paul took me home." At this, Paul shook Miles's mother's hand, offering a warm smile.

"I just wanted to introduce myself so you knew who took your son home. I hope you folks have a wonderful Christmas," Paul said, and stepped back.

"Thank you so much, Paul. Is there anything we can do for you? Would you like any food, any pay?" Miles's mother asked, but Paul insisted there was no need and turned to leave, but at the last moment he turned back for one last line.

"Peace on Earth, and goodwill toward men," he said with a grin.


End file.
